The Book of My Life

A bright star of the Italian Renaissance, Girolamo Cardano was an internationally-sought-after astrologer, physician, and natural philosopher, a creator of modern algebra, and the inventor of the universal joint. Condemned by the Inquisition to house arrest in his old age, Cardano wroteThe Book of My Life, an unvarnished and often outrageous account of his character and conduct. Whether discussing his sex life or his diet, the plots of academic rivals or meetings with supernatural beings, or his deep sorrow when his beloved son was executed for murder, Cardano displays the same unbounded curiosity that made him a scientific pioneer. At once picaresque adventure and campus comedy, curriculum vitae, and last will,The Book of My Lifeis an extraordinary Renaissance self-portraita book to set beside Montaigne's Essays and Benvenuto Cellini'sAutobiography.

Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576) was born in Pavia, Italy. A professor of mathematics at Padua, and of medicine at Pavia and Bologna, he was the the author of more than a hundred books on subjects ranging from the natural sciences to medicine, history, and music.

Anthony Grafton teaches the history of Renaissance Europe at Princeton University. His books include Joseph Scaliger, Cardano’s Cosmos, and Bring Out Your Dead.

Jean Stoner taught at the Dalton School in New York City.